Spurs bury Heat; lead series 2-1

San Antonio breaks NBA-Finals record by sinking 16 3-pointers

Danny Green scored 27 points and Gary Neal added 24 to help the San Antonio Spurs defeat the Miami Heat 113-77 Tuesday night in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

The Spurs made an NBA Finals-record 16 3-pointers to take a 2-1 lead in the series.

Green made seven of nine 3-pointers, and Neal, a reserve, made six of 10. The last of Green's 3-pointers gave the Spurs a 102-71 lead midway through the fourth quarter.

The game was such a blowout that both teams cleared their benches with just under six minutes remaining. Tim Duncan scored 12 points. Manu Ginobili scored just seven points and Tony Parker had just six for the Spurs.

San Antonio hit half of its 32 3-point attempts, while Miami made eight of 18 tries from beyond the arc.

The Spurs went on a 7-0 run early in the third quarter to take a 59-46 lead and force a Miami timeout.

San Antonio remained hot when play resumed. A fast break dunk by Ginobili bumped the Spurs' lead to 66-52 and led to another timeout by the Heat.

Again, the break in the action changed little, even though Parker went to the locker room briefly with a calf injury. A layup by Kawhi Leonard made it 73-52.

James got hot at the end of the third quarter, scoring nine points in the final 1:36 of the period to pull the Heat within striking distance. Splitter's dunk in the closing seconds of the third quarter gave the Spurs a 78-63 lead. San Antonio outscored Miami 28-19 in the period.

Gary Neal connected on four of six 3-pointers, including one at the halftime buzzer, and had 14 first-half points as the Spurs took a 50-44 lead at the break.

Duncan, who had nine points in Game 2, poured in 10 points by halftime Tuesday.

The Spurs, who had 17 turnovers last game, had eight at the midpoint.

Wade scored 12 in the first half to lead the Heat, who trailed by as many as 11 in the second quarter.

James struggled before intermission, going 2-for 8 for four points to go along six rebounds and four assists. He was visibly frustrated, slamming the scorer's table during a timeout before the second quarter ended.

NOTES: The Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Bill Fitch before the game. The award recognizes a career coaching achievement and a standard of integrity, competitive excellence and tireless promotion of NBA basketball. Fitch coached 25 years, and he ranks eighth all-time in wins. He won an NBA championship with Boston Celtics in 1981. ... In previous NBA Finals, there have been 13 series that have started 1-1 in a 2-3-2 format. The winner of Game 3 has gone on to win 12 of those 13 series. ... The Heat began the night an NBA-high 15 playoff road wins since the 2011 postseason. ... Entering Game 2, San Antonio had a 17-7 record over five appearances in the NBA Finals. The .708 winning percentage is the highest in Finals history.

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